Spidey molted!

[halfwaynowhere]

Spidey is my little cellar spider... Well, he's not so little anymore! I went to check on him this morning, and for a split second, thought that another spider had managed to get into his enclosure. Then I saw Spidey, and he's huge, and realized it was just a molt. I wish I had been able to witness it. This is my first molt, so its exciting for me. He's so big now, I'm wondering how much longer he'll have. I'm pretty sure he's a boy, his palps are really noticable. I'm debating whether I should just let him loose in the house now, so he can live a more fulfilled life.

 

[cacoseraph]

if you fed him you probably shouldn't let him go again, even into your house. i know it sounds paranoid and stupid to some ppl... but we really have no idea what kind of diseases we can be spreading. rather... most ppl don't. i have started reading and researching... and it is terrifying!


also... depending on species, he might be able to get up to a ~6" DLS!

 

[halfwaynowhere]

most of what i fed him were moths that i caught in the house, and i caught him in the bathroom, so letting him go in the house didn't seem like it would be too big of a deal, but I probably won't let him go.
I had no idea they could get that big! He's between 2.5" and 3" right now, just relaxed, I guess thats the way you measure them. If his legs were stretched out, he'd measure bigger. He was a little over 1" before the molt.
I never really thought much about these guys molting, I've seen their molts in their webs before, but after learning that the male usually stays near the female after mating, until he dies, I just assumed that it was a dead male in a female's web. This makes more sense, though.

 

[cacoseraph]

nice
sounds like you have one of the larger species or a larger individual



i mean... there probably isn't much risk at all in releasing that particular spider back into your home... but in general, i think that once a bug has touched one of your cages it should either stay in your collection or be released to heaven